Klay Thompson Injury update: NBA insider shares latest on Mavericks star's availability for game against Jazz
The Dallas Mavericks could be without a major piece against the Utah Jazz on Saturday as Klay Thompson is listed as out. According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, Thompson will not suit up against the Jazz due to plantar fascia. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic is listed as doubtful due to a wrist injury.
After playing the first 17 games of the season, Thompson has missed the Mavs' last two games.
Thompson missing the last two games marks the first time that the five-time NBA All-Star has missed two games in a row since 2021-22. He only played in 69 games in 2022-23 and 77 games in 2023-24. However, he did not miss back-to-back games in the past two years.
Aside from Thompson and Luka Doncic, Daniel Gafford and Dante Exum are on the Mavs' list of injured players.
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Klay Thompson's absence hasn't negatively impacted the Dallas Mavericks' offense
The Dallas Mavericks brought in Klay Thompson to space the floor around Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Prior to his injury, Thompson was filling this role well.
Thompson took the second most 3-pointers on the Mavs squad, averaging 8.0 attempts per game from deep and made 36.8% of them. Doncic, the only player who was averaging more attempts than Thompson, was at 9.9 3-point attempts per contest.
Without both Thompson and Luka, fans might think that the amount of shots that the Mavs take might drop slightly. There has only been a small sample size for this, as there have only been two games so far where they were both unavailable and this hasn't manifested thus far.
The first was Monday's game against the Atlanta Hawks and the other was Wednesday's contest against the New York Knicks. Against the Hawks, the Mavs had a total of 35 attempts from deep. 13 of which came from Irving and both Jaden Hardy and Spencer Dinwiddie attempted seven each. Then, against the Knicks, they had 33 attempts.
These are on par with their season average as a team which is at 34.8 per game. Another thing worth noting is that somehow, the Mavs have shot better so far without Thompson and Doncic. They have made 35.6% as a team so far but in these last two games, they have shot above that.
Against Atlanta, they made 45.7% of their deep shots and an even better 51.5% against the Knicks.
Players like Naji Marshall, Jaden Hardy and Spencer Dinwiddie have stepped up to fill the gaps on the team's offense. However, with only a small sample size, there still isn't a way to determine how the team's offense will be affected should Klay Thompson go through an extended absence.